Amateur radio has been made easier with the removal of the requirement to be proficient in Morse Code. It is a wonderful hobby. Like anything else, it can be as complex as a person wants, but the entry-level license allows emergency communications and the technical aspects of the test are not complex at all.
Having ham radio equipment gives a person the means to communicate with others without any outside infrastructure, and an antenna can be as simple as a piece of wire a few dozen feet long.
That's why I got my license. And now you can get a cheap Chinese UHF transceiver for $40, so cost shouldn't be a problem.